Glory&#39;s spending spree causes stir in rivals

The West Australian

Monday, 13 July 2009 10:57PM

Perth Glory's player spending spree has already caused a stir in other States as A-League rivals privately query the WA club's ability to pack the wages of five major signings into a tight salary cap, according to owner Tony Sage.

The mining entrepreneur, who has splashed out on marquee signings Mile Sterjovski, Jacob Burns, Andy Todd, Branko Jelic and Chris Coyne, said the attitude to Glory, who finished second last in the past three seasons, had changed dramatically.

New-look Glory, featuring Burns, Sterjovski and Todd, showed plenty of positive signs in a 1-0 loss to English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday and A-League clubs have taken notice. Sage told _The West Australian _he was aware of clubs making contact with peak body Football Federation Australia to query Glory's ability to fit the wages of the new signings into the A-League's salary structure.

Under league rules, club's can spend $2.25 million on salary, an additional $250,000 on other services, plus $150,000 on a star under-23 player and an unlimited amount on a senior marquee.

Sage's spending on players identified by coach David Mitchell has taken the club's wage bill to about $3 million a season.

"We are now the envy of other clubs," Sage said.

"Some of them have already gone to FFA and said how have Perth done this. They are whingeing already.

"But with Mile and Jacob it's just a strong bond with Mitch and once we got them, Andy Todd was keen because he knew Mile. Then we got Chris, who always wanted to come back and play for Perth."

Deputy chairman Lui Giuliani, who negotiated the deals, said simple mathematics was the key to Glory's beefed-up squad.

The exit of a swag of players, including Hayden Foxe, Amaral, Nick Rizzo, James Robinson, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, David Tarka and Frank Juric, who has been retained as a goalkeeper coach, created room in the salary cap to bring in some big names.

Sage admitted spending big was a gamble but he was confident it would pay dividends - unlike his decision to bring Wolves and Fulham to Perth. He was desperately disappointed that only 11,083 fans turned up on Friday to watch the game.